“It’s weird and normal and hot and sad and strange and I don’t really want to let go. It feels kind of euphoric, like we’re in some sort of fairytale. Like she’s Tinkerbell and I’m Peter Pan. No, wait. I don’t want to be Peter Pan. Maybe she can be like Cinderella and I’m Prince Charming.”

This quote introduces the central allusion of the text—the reference to the fairy tale “Cinderella” that will shape the remainder of the narrative. By comparing their connection to a fairy tale, Daniel illustrates the almost magical aspect of their connection, which is so immediately strong and intense that it takes them both by surprise and almost does not feel quite real. Daniel at first compares them to Tinkerbell and Peter Pan, which alludes to two characters from the novel Peter Pan who are friendly but do not share a sexual or romantic connection. By amending his allusion to Cinderella, he finds the comparison that fits. This quote romanticizes their connection as magical and fated, situating their story in a fairy-tale frame and highlighting The Role Serendipity Plays in Love.

“I’ve got quite a reputation, you know. In fact, it’s possible the two of us may have had sex before and we don’t even realize it.”

This quote provides characterization for Six and how she thinks of herself at the beginning of the text—as someone with a “promiscuous” and negative reputation. Six’s perception of this reputation or feelings about it seems neutral, stating it plainly as fact but not necessarily taking offense to it, which speaks to her confidence in herself. This quote is also an example of dramatic irony in the text, as Six and Daniel will soon have sex without knowing each other’s identities, only to date a year later and make the decision to be abstinent in their relationship. Six shares something intimate and stigmatized about herself, revealing how she’s been judged by others—and ultimately will be accepted by Daniel. This exchange highlights Honesty and Vulnerability in Building Connections and The Meaning of Unconditional Love.

“Right now it’s perfect. We can always have this perfect memory of that one time we loved somebody.”

This quote connects to the overall mood of the novella as being fantastical or fairy-tale-like. As Six and Daniel prepare to say their final goodbye, after having made love to each other while pretending to be in love, Six declines Daniel’s suggestion that they turn on the light to discover each other’s identities. In the “Cinderella” story, Cinderella leaves the ball after dancing with Prince Charming without sharing her name, leaving only her glass slipper behind in her wake. Six does not even leave Daniel with that, insisting that they should leave this moment untouched, pure, and “perfect.” To uncover each other’s identities would ruin the inherent magic of the moment, bringing them back to reality and outside of their fairy tale.

“In reality, people are who they are and they’ll never really change.”

Daniel makes this assertion after breaking up with Val, once he realizes that they were always trying to change one another, rather than accepting each other for who they are. Daniel shares his core belief that people fundamentally do not change, thus affirming that he and Val are wrong for each other. This statement not only establishes why he and Val are wrong for each other but also foreshadows the strong connection he will form with Six and how their bond will be based on loving the other for who they are. This quote highlights the meaning of unconditional love.

“I’m waiting for that moment. The one that always comes with girls, where the pedestal you place them on in the beginning gets kicked out from under them […] I’ve been waiting patiently for Six’s flaws to stand out, but so far I can’t find any […] hers may just be buried deeper than other people’s.”

Daniel uses the familiar idiom “to put someone on a pedestal” in this quote to illustrate his strong feelings for Six. To put someone on a pedestal means to idealize them and place them above oneself and others as being perfect or beyond reproach. Comparing his relationship with Six to those in his past, Daniel keeps looking for the thing that he will learn about Six that will ruin his idealized view of her, or “kicks her off the pedestal” that he has put her on. He struggles to find any, as every new thing he learns about her instead only reaffirms his growing feelings for her. As a small moment of foreshadowing at the end of this quote, Daniel wonders whether Six’s flaws may just be more hidden than others’, something that will become known later on when he learns of her pregnancy.

“I’ve always felt like being myself with a girl wasn’t necessarily a positive […] I feel like the real me is what she likes the most and every time she laughs or smiles at the perfect moment, I want to fist bump her.”

This quote connects to the discussion of self-discovery in relationships, as Daniel defines himself as someone with a somewhat crass sense of humor and exuberant disposition. He often struggles to filter what he says to others, resulting in occasionally catching people off guard, which angered his previous girlfriend, Val. This quote illustrates the realization dawning on Daniel that he may not need to temper his personality to be palatable in a relationship after all; instead, he just needed to find the right fit for him.

“Our mouths meld together like they used to be in love and they’re just now seeing each other for the first time in years.”

Another moment of dramatic irony is Daniel and Six’s kiss on their first date, as this is not the first time they have kissed, but they have not yet realized that they are the same people from the maintenance closet. In fact, their lips are meeting again for the first time in a year, and the connection between them remains strong. There is also a bit of synecdoche in this quote, as their lips act as representative of their whole selves, an illustration of how strong their physical attraction to each other is. This kiss is layered with an unknowingly shared past and a blossoming new love, highlighting the role serendipity plays in love.

“We all have deal breakers, Daniel. Some of us just hope we can keep them hidden forever.”

This quote is an example of personification, as Six imbues the idea of deal breakers as having tangible weight and presence. She suggests that a dealbreaker is something that one can keep hidden or obscure from those around them, as Six is doing within the narrative by hiding her pregnancy. Six acknowledging that she may have something “unlovable” hidden subtly foreshadows the reveal of her pregnancy.

“‘And you better be done with that guy in Italy,’ I reply. She nods. ‘I am,’ she says, although her eyes seem to tell a different story. I try not to read into it because whatever it is, it doesn’t matter now.”

The author uses personification in the phrase “her eyes seem to tell a different story” to alert readers to the importance of Six’s connection with the boy in Italy and that this person will continue to be a looming figure in the text. What Daniel sees, and refuses to read, in Six’s eyes at the mention of the “guy in Italy” is the emotional weight that this person still has for Six. She refuses to talk about the person she left behind in Italy, but her eyes belie the fact that he is still very present in her thoughts. Daniel’s intuition notices the unspoken sadness Six carries—she is still emotionally affected by the past, which highlights honesty and vulnerability in building connections.

“She’s obliterating every single thing I thought I knew about myself with every new sentence that passes those lips.”

A character’s diction gives readers important insight into their personalities, thoughts, and emotions. This quote illustrates Daniel’s bombastic nature and tendency toward hyperbole while simultaneously emphasizing the strength of the connection he feels toward Six in such a brief time. His use of the word “obliterate,” which means to utterly destroy, illustrates the significant impact that Six has had on his perception of himself in only a few hours of knowing each other. His attraction to Six is teaching Daniel things that he did not even know about himself, and yet the more he gets to know her, the more he feels like he is becoming the person he has always been meant to be.

“I think if a person is really, truly in love then it has to be unconditional. How I felt about Val was definitely not unconditional. I had conditions for every single feeling I had about her.”

This quote characterizes Daniel and gives important insight into his perspective. He states his conviction that love should be unconditional, going further to articulate that his relationship with Val failed, in part, because he had conditions for “every single feeling [he] had about her.” By establishing this belief early in the text, the novel signifies to readers that unconditional love is an important value of Daniel’s and will play a significant role in the text moving forward as he develops his relationship with Six. This highlights the theme of the meaning of unconditional love.

“Like she’s a drug I’ve become immediately addicted to, but I have none in supply. The only thing that satiates the craving is her laugh. Or her smile or her kiss or the feel of her pressed against me.”

Daniel uses a simile to describe the intensity of his feelings for Six. By comparing her to a drug, Daniel emphasizes the feelings he has for her as addictive, something that he is hopeless to try and avoid. He takes the simile further by stating that the only thing that can curb his cravings is being physically close or connected to her, illustrating that his desire for her manifests in physical symptoms.

“Her answers are short and clipped and I hate that I’m the only one who seems to notice how much she doesn’t want to bring up Italy. It proves that whatever connection I feel with her is more than likely genuine. I feel like I know her better than anyone else here.”

Despite their strong connection, Daniel and Six often question the intensity of their feelings for one another because of how quickly they have fallen for each other. This quote indicates Daniel’s burgeoning faith in their connection as he watches Six struggle through dinner, fielding questions about her time abroad. Daniel notices Six’s discomfort around Italy, picking up on cues that others miss—evidence of emotional attunement and honesty and vulnerability in building connections.

“I realize I’ve never hoped I could love someone more than I want to love her […] Whatever we have is good, and even though I still don’t know her birthday, I know this is right.”

This is another quote that illustrates Daniel’s perspective on life and how his feelings for Six are shaping his worldview. Daniel makes the important caveat that he is not yet in love with Six but states that he hopes he can fall in love with her one day and that he strongly desires to do so. He tempers his feelings due to the fact that he and Six have just met, but he knows that their connection is real and “right,” despite just having met. He uses the fact that he feels so strongly for her despite not yet knowing her birthday as evidence to support his claim that his feelings for her supersede knowing information about her.

“‘What’s the one thing in this room that tells the biggest secret about you?’ She lifts her hand and touches a finger to her heart, pointing at it. ‘This,’ she whispers. ‘My biggest secret is right in here.’”

This quote employs symbolism to represent Six’s biggest secret: her heart. When she points to her heart, she indicates that she is carrying her secret (the pregnancy) inside her. Her heart is also symbolic of Six’s reticence to trust others, especially when it comes to romantic love. She has long felt that guys only want her for sex, rather than intimacy, and while she has tried to learn into a persona that reflects indifference to relationships, Six alludes to the fact that she really does desire true love. Her heart is a symbol of her vulnerability and her fear of letting anyone be close enough to see her heart and true desires.

“Every time I kiss her, the feeling I get is like nothing I’ve ever experienced. The closest I’ve ever come to feeling this way is the day I was pretending to be in love with the girl in the closet. But even that day, the day I thought would surpass every day after it, doesn’t come close to this.”

In another example of irony, Daniel compares how he feels kissing Six to his memory of the girl from the closet. The irony is that Six and the girl from the closet are the same. The text is structured so that the readers intuit almost immediately that Six and Cinderella are the same person and are thus encouraged to enjoy knowing more than the characters do as Six and Daniel’s relationship progresses until the big reveal.

“‘I hate everybody, too.’ As soon as the words fall from her mouth, she looks away like she didn’t just punch me in the gut, rip out my intestines, and stomp them into the ground. There’s no way. There’s no way I wouldn’t have noticed she was Cinderella.”

This quote is an important moment in the text as Daniel realizes that Six is Cinderella. The repetition of the phrase “I hate everybody,” is a repetition of their original conversation in the closet, in which they connected over their shared misanthrope. Repetition in a text serves to emphasize important thoughts or ideas of characters—in this case, it is an epiphany for Daniel, as the repeated phrase brings him back to the moment he and Six/Cinderella first connected in the closet. The sentences that follow in the text are an example of hyperbole—the intense imagery that Daniel evokes serves to emphasize the intensity of his emotions in this moment as he realizes that Six is the girl from the closet.

“I don’t know how to separate everything I’m feeling in order to get a grip on the core of what’s upsetting me the most.”

Daniel uses personification to try and describe how overwhelmed he feels in trying to sift through all the different things that are currently upsetting him. Between learning Cinderella’s identity and the news of Six’s pregnancy and subsequent decision to put their baby up for adoption, Daniel expresses a cacophony of emotions. Because of the sheer number of things he is struggling with right now, he fails to grasp at the “core” of what is bothering him the most, giving his emotions a tangible weight.

“I didn’t know hearts could literally ache like this. It hurts so much I want to reach inside and rip it out of my chest so I’ll never feel this again.”

This is another example of hyperbolic language from Daniel as he tries to describe the intensity of his emotions. He feels so despondent after his argument with Six that he describes wanting to rip out his own heart from his chest—an act that he believes, in this moment, would be less painful than the anguish of fighting and being out of sync with Six.

“You made a choice for him. Not for yourself. Not for me. You did what was best for him and I will never be able to thank you enough for that […] I love you.”

This quote employs chiasmus at the beginning as Daniel reassures Six that she made the right decision in putting their son up for adoption. For the past year, since making that decision, Six has been plagued with guilt, despite feeling at the time that putting up her son for adoption would give him a chance for a better life. She further questions her decision once she learns that Daniel is the father, but Daniel’s assurances, repeating that she made the best choice for their son, reiterates the selflessness of her act. This realization on Daniel’s part is also what enables him to let go of his initial shock and anger toward Six and to admit for the first time that he loves her. This is Daniel’s full realization that love means understanding choices born of pain and care, even when those choices hurt him, highlighting the meaning of unconditional love and honesty and vulnerability in building connections.

“I think we might really be in love this time. No more pretending.”

This quote once more evokes the motif of fairy tales, specifically Daniel and Six’s fairy-tale-like relationship. This quote echoes and contrasts the scene from earlier in the text when Daniel told Six (then only known to him as Cinderella) that he wished that their pretend love could be real before she left the closet. After all they have been through in the course of the text, Daniel and Six have earned each other’s love, no longer needing to pretend and bringing their fairy-tale romance into the realm of reality.

“I realize in this moment that we just became so much more together than we could ever possibly be alone.”

Daniel uses figurative language to describe the act of him and Six coming together: recommitting to their relationship after the revelation of the child they had together. Figurative language is often used to add heightened emotion to texts, which it does in this case as Daniel evokes the image of he and Six, bound together in their commitment, stronger together than they are apart. This quote emphasizes that together, they can do and accomplish so much more than if they were to let the past come between them. Now, they are actually stronger for the trials they have gone through together.

“I call her Cinderella because the first time I laid eyes on her, I thought she was so beautiful she couldn’t be real. Girls like her were reserved for fairy tales and fantasies.”

Daniel lies to Six’s brothers when they ask about his nickname for their sister since he does not want to admit the sexual nature of their first tryst, but this quote nonetheless speaks to how Daniel has grown to feel about Six. While he did not know what Six looked like when they first met, he still felt like their connection was the stuff of fairy tales. When he and Six met and began dating, especially after he learned that she was Cinderella, Daniel’s perception of her was elevated to fairy-tale status. Daniel repeatedly states throughout the text that he cannot believe that he and Six are together or that he is the one who gets to love her, and this quote speaks to his real sense of incredulity around Six: She is truly his fairy tale come to life.